WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman Ted W. Lieu (D | CA-33) made the following statement in the wake of a report in USA Today, which raises questions about the role that automated endoscope reprocessors, or AER’s, might play in the spread of superbug bacteria by contaminated medical scopes. This latest report comes in the wake of a series of deadly medical scope-related superbug outbreaks in several hospitals across the nation.

WASHINGTON, DC – This week, Congressman Ted W. Lieu (D | CA-33) and Congressman Peter Roskam (R | IL-6) joined with eight additional House colleagues in sending a letter to Commissioner Margaret Hamburg of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seeking further information and ideas from the FDA on how best to prevent fatal outbreaks of antibiotic resistant bacteria, or superbugs.

By the time 18-year-old Aaron Young wound up at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles last October, he’d been wrestling for months with excruciating stomach pain and vomiting that repeatedly sent him to the emergency room.

Diagnosed with acute pancreatitis, he underwent what is typically a low-risk procedure in which doctors inserted a special device down his throat to treat his digestive system.

WASHINGTON, DC – This afternoon, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles announced that four patients have been infected with a dangerous superbug and that an additional 68 people may have been exposed. This discovery comes just two weeks after it was reported that a similar superbug at UCLA killed two people and infected seven others. Both outbreaks were caused by CRE bacteria that were transmitted by contaminated Olympus duodenoscopes. As a result, Congressman Ted W. Lieu (D - CA|33) made the following statement:

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, Congressman Ted W. Lieu (D | CA-33) sent a letter to Chairman Jason Chaffetz and Ranking Member Elijah Cummings of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (OGR) requesting a hearing on the multiple sterilization failures of a medical device known as the duodenoscope. The sterilization problems have led to multiple deaths nationwide and repeated outbreaks of antibiotic-resistant bacteria a.k.a. “superbugs.”

Today, Congressman Lieu sent a letter to Chairman Jason Chaffetz and Ranking Member Elijah Cummings of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform requesting a hearing on the multiple sterilization failures of a medical device known as the duodenoscope. Click here to view the full text of the letter.